1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to brackets and piping manifolds for holding water filters, and more specifically, brackets and manifolds that allow quick change-out of the filters. The invention relates to a bracket system that may accommodate a plurality of filters in series and/or parallel flow, and is adaptable to many different flow schemes, media and liquids. The preferred system used a pivotal system, wherein a top bracket pivots away from each filter so that the filters may be lifted up out of the bracket system.
2. Related Art
Manifold systems have been developed to accommodate multiple filters or water treatment tanks for increasing filter capacity and for allowing quick replacement of the filters. In 1972, Warren disclosed (U.S. Pat. No. 3,685,539) a multi-station system comprising a plurality of filters attached to a vacuum manifold. In 1973, Bjork disclosed (U.S. Pat. No. 3,753,495) a water conditioning unit with a filtering tank and a water softening tank connected to a manifold. In 1992-1994, Posner et al. disclosed a manifold system that comprises horizontally-removable filters that include a xe2x80x9cmeans for effective evenly distributed filtration,xe2x80x9d which includes a first conical stage filter near the filter inlet and a second conical stage filter near the filter outlet, with a charcoal element between the conical filters. Each Posner filter is removable in a horizontal direction, that is, perpendicularly to the plane of the piping manifold, which plane is typically vertical. The Posner fittings are stationary snap-together and snap-apart connections that are parallel in fixed horizontal planes.
There is still need a filter and bracket system that provides reliable quick connection and disconnection between a plurality of filters and their respective brackets. There is still a need for such a modular system that allows filters to be arranged in many different flow configurations for many different processes. The present invention fulfills these and other needs.
The present invention comprises a bracket system that holds a filter in quick-release fashion and that may comprise conduits for flow in or out of one or both ends of the filter. The bracket system may be expanded by using a plurality of brackets in modular fashion to create a xe2x80x9cbankxe2x80x9d of several filters. The invented system therefore features a high degree of flexibility for changing the number of filters and the flowscheme of the filter bank, including flow between two or more filters to a storage or treatment vessel that is separate from the bank of filters.
The bracket system comprises pairs of brackets. Each pair includes a top bracket and a bottom bracket, which capture the top end and bottom end of a filter, respectively. Several pairs of brackets may be positioned near each other to hold a plurality of fitters generally side-by-side or in other arrangements. Fittings are included in the brackets for sealing to the inlet and outlet ports of the filters to connect the ports to flexible tubing or other conduit. The conduit extends from the fittings to establish many different flowschemes in and out of the filters and between the filters and/or the separate storage and treatment vessels. Each bracket may be made to include fitting configurations of various types, including:
1. One fitting, that is, a single fitting for attachment to an inlet port or an outlet port;
2. Two fittings, that is, xe2x80x9cdouble fittingsxe2x80x9d for connection to both an inlet port and an outlet port; or
3. No fittings, wherein the particular bracket, either top or bottom bracket, is intended for support of the filter but not for conducting of fluid.
Single-fitting brackets are placed on both ends of flow-through filters, for example, to allow flow into the filter top end and out of the filter bottom end. Double-fitting brackets are used at one end of a central-return-tube-style filter, preferably the top end, to allow flow in and out of a single end of the filter. For such return-tube filters, the bottom bracket typically contains no fittings or conduit, because the bottom bracket serves only to support and retain the filter. Brackets intended for the various fitting configurations may be made the same or substantially the same, that is, having the basic structure for more than one configuration but having one or more fittings blocked off for use with different filters. For example, a bottom bracket may be formed to have a post that, in some flowschemes, fluidly communicates with a port in the filter, or, in other flowschemes, may have its internal passage blocked and have no attached conduit, so that there is no fluid communication. Or, the filter may have only an indentation in its bottom end rather than a port, so that a post with an internal passage still does not communicate with the internals of the filter.
The brackets preferably serve as support, securement, and quick-connect and quick-disconnect fluid conduit means, so that, preferably, a filter may be installed or removed without tools, without manipulation of threaded members or other screws, bolts, or other fasteners. To fulfill these objects, the preferred top and bottom brackets have slide-together fluid connections and pivotal features that allow the filter to xe2x80x9cclearxe2x80x9d the brackets during removal. The top brackets are preferably adapted to pivot off of the filters, so that the filters may be lifted up off of the bottom brackets. Additionally, the bottom brackets may be pivotal, so that lifting the filters up from the bracket system is facilitated by allowing the filter to also pivot out away from the top modules. Thus, the top bracket preferably comprises a lid that has a substantial vertical component to its movement, to clamp down over the top filter connection for retaining the filter top in place, and then to move up and away from the top filter connection for removal of the filter. The bottom bracket comprises a base that preferably vertically receives the bottom surface of the filter, and, optionally, a vertical fitting for forming a fluid connection with the bottom of a flow-through filter.
Therefore, the preferred bracket system holds one or more filters in quick-attach and quick-release fashion and includes conduits for flow in and out of one or both ends of the filters. A plurality of bracket modules are combined in modular fashion, with tubing or other conduit between the modules, to create a xe2x80x9cbankxe2x80x9d of several filters featuring a high degree of flexibility for changing the number and flow scheme of filters, and with tubing or other conduit between filters and the storage or treatment equipment that is separate from the bank of filters. Preferably, the bracket system comprises pairs of top modules and bottom modules that capture and support the top end and bottom end of a filter. A top retaining member preferably pivots off of its respective filter, so that the filter may be lifted up off of its respective bottom module. Additionally, the bottom modules may be pivotal, so that lifting the filter up from the bracket system is facilitated by allowing the filter to also pivot out away from the top module. Thus, the top retaining member has a substantial vertical component to its movement to clamp down over the top filter connection to retain the filter top in place. The bottom bracket comprises a base to vertically support the filter plus, optionally, a fitting for forming a fluid connection with a flow-through filter. Each filter is therefore substantially vertically and pivotally removable from the bracket system.
The especially-preferred embodiments of filter and bracket modules are adapted so that the filter is installed by a simple lifting of a lid, placement of the filter on the bottom bracket, pivoting the filter toward the top bracket to push the top ports onto the bracket tubes, and letting the lid fall down onto the filter top end. Likewise, the especially-preferred filter is removed from the bracket modules by the user lifting the lid and pulling on the top end of the filter to pull the filter off of the top bracket tubes, which causes the filter to pivot slightly away from the top bracket into a position in which the user may then easily lift the filter up off the bottom bracket without any further detachment of parts, fasteners, or moveable members. Thus, the invented system may provide a bank of filters that may quickly be changed out or cleaned or otherwise maintained by even relatively untrained staff.